Come to think of it, were there actually any 1st wave surf bands that used a Mosrite or is it only present with newer bands?

Hmmm, I'm no history expert, but I think it's mostly a Ventures thing. Sure did catch on, though.
One more thing I want to add about the 88 Mosrite I played (It's my bandmate's guitar), is that it takes getting used to the different bridge location. The neck, bridge and pickups are all pretty high compared to the body (the action is low, though). It could be that vintage ones are different.

My JM is sunburst. I don't know that I would have picked that color if had a choice, but I wanted to actually play the guitar I was going to buy, before paying for it, and the only place I found one had just this one.

and goinng a little Off topic:
I wish the Jag Barritone had a tremolo, I'd be all over that guitar. I looked at the distances of the neck - pickups - bridge on that thing and it looked to me that they got the long scale length from really putting the bridge back, so I figured there's no easy way to do some creative neck swapping, installation of a Jag/JM termolo or anything like that. Oh well, that's the price I pay for wanting to play 65-15 flat wounds tuned to D.

I like sunburst too. Our alternate matching guitars are sunburst. Some of the new sunbursts are not that bad. The American Vintage Reissue line looks better than some of the imports. A sunbust Jag with all the chrome is a thing of beauty.

Most pictures from the early 60s, a) because of the film used, and b) because of aging don't really give us a true idea of what sunburst looked like.

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"as he stepped into the stealthy night air... little did he know the fire escape was not there"

I played nothing but Strats for 25 years, but ever since I tried a Jaguar I barley touch my Strat anymore. The Jag has so much more personality. Granted that personality can be a bit limiting at times, but with a sound that cool, it's worth it. They have a bit of that 60's jangly sound which is totally cool and which Strats can't touch.

And I'm a big fan of the Jag/Jazz trem. I was getting really tired of the Strat trem going out of tune whenever you think about touching it.

I also dig the darker moodyness of my Jazzmaster, but ultimately the Jag is my fave.

Come to think of it, were there actually any 1st wave surf bands that used a Mosrite or is it only present with newer bands?

Hmmm, I'm no history expert, but I think it's mostly a Ventures thing. Sure did catch on, though.

The Ventures "In Space" album was released in November 1963 with the back cover clearly showing them using Mosrites. One would have thought that at least some 1st wave surf bands also wanted to try out Mosrites after that, but I can't recall I've ever seen a pic of such band.

sidewalksurf
I've got a Jag and a JM. I used to lean pretty heavily on the Jag but lately, I've been favoring the JM - just really depends on what I feel like playing that day. I once had a Japanese Mosrite and while I did dig the tone, I didn't really like the thin neck or the almost flat frets. Strats are cool, but I've always had a problem with the position of the volume knob and it's close proximity to the bridge pickup.

Hey Mike, is that the CAR red JM on the Thundercheifs myspace? She vintage?

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"as he stepped into the stealthy night air... little did he know the fire escape was not there"

sidewalksurf
I've got a Jag and a JM. I used to lean pretty heavily on the Jag but lately, I've been favoring the JM - just really depends on what I feel like playing that day. I once had a Japanese Mosrite and while I did dig the tone, I didn't really like the thin neck or the almost flat frets. Strats are cool, but I've always had a problem with the position of the volume knob and it's close proximity to the bridge pickup.

Hey Mike, is that the CAR red JM on the Thundercheifs myspace? She vintage?

Mike, that looks REALLY good man! That's a new American Reissue guard right? It's got those almost white light green yellowish spots in it, my bassists 2005 Jazz Bass has it but my 2000 and 2003 Jaguars don't. I'm thinking about getting one for my white Jaguar, but they go for about 40 bucks on Ebay.

Looks like Thomastik Infelds on there too.

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"as he stepped into the stealthy night air... little did he know the fire escape was not there"

Wow, look at all those pretty fiesta red Fenders!!! Gorgeous! Thanks so much for posting those covers, Klas, they're incredible! I totally agree that the fiesta red Jag/JM with a shell pickguard is beautiful. (Interestingly enough, I don't think that applies to a Strat - a fiesta red Strat has to have a white pickguard for me. The shell guard wouldn't work.) (Incidentally, I've been listening to a lot of eleki over the last week, so those covers were also quite timely.) And what a gorgous fiesta red Jazzmaster with a shell guard - way to go!

I think Jake asked me many posts back about my Jazzmaster. It's Japanese, a '96 Limited Edition one. Fender Japan made matching JMs and Jaguars. They are yellow with a reddish shell guard and gold hardware. I swapped the pickups for Seymour Duncans, but otherwise it's completely stock. That guitar is really quite remarkable, I think. It has an incredible neck, very straight with low, low action (all my Strats have high action, mostly cause I prefer it that way), and a big sound. No buzz stop necessary, strings stay in the slots even during DD-style picking. I've played a few vintage JMs through the years, and I think this one totally holds its own with them, and it's better that the MIJ/CIJ JMs I've played. I haven't tried the new American ones, though.